Balcary to Rascarrel Walk, Dumfries & Galloway

[kfrweaving]

Todays walk was a bit steeper than yesterdays walk, but just as impressive! There was more variety in terms of the ground, so was good for the feet. The photos are varied. Again i think Christabelle will probably have more and a few that will be the same perhaps! On this walk i was really glad i took the walking poles! Around the coast it was a tricky path and had to be taken with care.....otherwise it was a bit of a drop! I took my time and stopped every so often to look round as the view was fantastic. As with yesterdays walk the rock formations were interesting..........guess what is going to be going into the weavings later in the year
Along the way we encountered some sheep that were somewhat comical. Donkeys on the beach and horses in one of the fields that hardly bothered about us. We sat and had lunch at Loch Mackie, a man made loch which was lovely and peaceful. When we went through the forest at times it was hard to work out whether is was the sea that you heard or the wind in the trees. The walk was 7.5 km but didn;t feel like it. The hardest part was the rocky cliff walk. It was a lot higher than i might have thought. I am glad i had a walking companion. Would not have done this walk on my own, or yesterdays walk! Mucky boots and trousers we went into a hotel at the end of the walk for tea and went down to the beach to see all the Oyster Catchers. Fantastic wee birds.
On the walk we could see out to Hestan Island that had part of it called "Daft Ann's Steps". Why i am not sure, will have to look this up! No one lives there now except for the birds. The only thing that i found spoilt the walk was the amount of litter on the beach. The driftwood was lovely to see, but the plastic bottles, old wheels, etc really spoilt it. Why can't people clear up after themselves? But i am really glad i did the walk. Yesterday and today i saw parts of the region that i had not seen before. Getting to these places by bus would have been tricky and getting back would have been harder. So thank you again to Christabelle! There are so many other walks in the region. One walk i would like to do is Screel Hill. Very tough but i do want to get up there as, on a clear day, the views are spectacular. We were really lucky with the weather yesterday and today, no rain! Windy and bright. So plenty more walks to do before our WHW in the Autumn. I'm going up to Glasgow next month to do a walk near where Chrisabelle lives, so it will be good to get out to another region and explore.

[Chrisabelle]

A great walk, so many interesting things to see, so much different scenery. Starting out in woods, sea cliffs gradually increasing in height (needed my brave pills there, I too wouldn't have done it on my own), back down to rocky beach which was spoiled by flotsam and jetsom but some interesting shapes in the driftwood. Onto rolling pasture, woodland then the loch, we had it all. Beautiful weather if a little breezy on the cliffs.
To the climbers on this site the cliffs would have been nothing much, probably, but to two women of more mature years ( one much more so than the other, not saying which ) they were pretty scary.
The start, and end; Balcary Bay Hotel, lovely tea at the end of the walk

Another one of Heston Island

When we realise where the path took us!

Me with the scary bit behind me, well some of it!

Don't look down!

Proof that the cliffs were, officially, scary.

The rocky beach

The pasture land

The woods

Loch Mackrie

The horses,

Oystercatchers, a bit far away

A lovely day with kfrweaving, looking forward to more in preparation for WHW